Health summit in Bridgehampton promotes empowerment for women

Swaddling her newborn son against her chest, Randalle Lewis recounted her terrifying ordeal after being diagnosed with a subchorionic hematoma in the third trimester of her first pregnancy in 2019.

Heavy bleeding prompted Lewis, 37, of Wheatley Heights, to seek care at a hospital emergency room. There, a swarm of health care workers peppered her with questions, dismissing her concerns as they began preparing for an emergency cesarean section.

Lewis, who is the advocacy and coalition manager at the Health & Welfare Council of Long Island and is Black, counts herself lucky that she had a network of family, friends and connections that ultimately spared her from the risky procedure and she had a natural birth instead.

The traumatic experience is what led Lewis to opt for a midwife and doula during her most recent pregnancy.

“I educated myself, and it wasn’t easy work. But whatever the thing is that you want, whatever the thing is that’s bothering you, do your research, use your resources and ask questions,” Lewis told more than 50 women who gathered for a summit on women’s health in Bridgehampton, where she was a speaker Saturday. 

Turning reluctance and mistrust into education and empowerment for women, particularly women of color, was a key theme of Saturday’s conference at the Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreational Center. The event was co-hosted by the center, the health and welfare council and the Women’s Diversity Network.

Wide-ranging panel discussions focused on women’s health at every stage, blending candid, lived experiences with insights from medical experts throughout the region. Though maternal mortality rates have improved, racial disparities still exist.

Data from the state Department of Health shows Black women are five times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy-related conditions, including excessive bleeding, blood clots and high blood pressure.

Between 2018 and 2020, the statewide maternal mortality rate was 18.5 per 100,000 live births. Among Black women, the rate was 54.7, compared with 11.2 for white women.

“We know there is a history of racial injustice, social structural barriers, the fact that women of color are not listened to,” said panelist Adesuwa Watson, director of the Suffolk County Office of Minority Health. “Our symptoms are trivialized.”

Watson said the county organization focuses on conditions that disproportionately affect communities of color but specifically called for more inclusive medical trials, which could improve health outcomes.

Doctors who were serving as panelists at the conference, agreed, adding that implicit biases and what is taught in medical books can negatively impact patient care and contribute to disparities.

“I only know what eczema looks like on Black skin because of my family,” said Dr. Lucy Moussignac, a Sag Harbor-based physician.

Many providers, who were panelists, said their organizations have added training on implicit bias to help provide more equitable care.

Disparities in health care don’t just impact expectant mothers. Panelists spoke about a range of socioeconomic and cultural barriers that can affect how other issues, from fertility to heart and gum disease and Alzheimer’s disease, are treated, let alone diagnosed.

Women’s Diversity Network founder Shanequa Levin said it’s important to be honest about health care experiences, even if taboo or uncomfortable, to promote changes “so that women in every stage of life, in every ZIP code and every background, cannot only survive but thrive.”